Forgotten hardware: how to urinate in a spacesuit

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hunter Hollins
Keyword(s):  
Space Flight ◽  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Urine Collection ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
Orbital Flight ◽  
Human Waste ◽  
The Public ◽  
Collection Device ◽  
Cultural Mores ◽  
Electronic Biosensors

On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to fly in space. Although National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had discounted the need for him to urinate, Shepard did, in his spacesuit, short circuiting his electronic biosensors. With the development of the pressure suit needed for high-altitude and space flight during the 1950s, technicians had developed the means for urine collection. However, cultural mores, combined with a lack of interagency communication, and the technical difficulties of spaceflight made human waste collection a difficult task. Despite the difficulties, technicians at NASA created a successful urine collection device that John Glenn wore on the first Mercury orbital flight on February 20, 1962. With minor modifications, male astronauts used this system to collect urine until the Space Shuttle program. John Glenn's urine collection device is at the National Air and Space Museum and has been on view to the public since 1976.

scholarly journals Re Thinking the Public Toilet of Dhaka City: An Adaptable Prototype Design Solution to Improve the Existing Situation

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Syeda Faeza Hasan ◽  
Farjana Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Public Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Human Waste ◽  
The Public ◽  
Hygiene Education ◽  
The City ◽  
Public Toilets

Dhaka is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world with a population of 21 million. With the constantly rising inhabitants, this urbanizing hub officially only has 122 public toilets, and in reality, most of them are not functional (Sanyal, November 05, 2016). Different studies also suggested that current situations of the public toilets in the city are unusable and unhygienic. Apart from a few good ones, most toilets have filthy floors, inadequate lighting and ventilation, and unbearable odor of human waste. Although unhygienic open defecation by men is a common scene in the city, for the woman it is not an option. While the city plans to construct a few, there still will be a huge need for public toilets to meet the demand of the vast population. It is critical to realize the challenges existing and evolving from the forbidding public hygiene situation and the lack of proper public infrastructure. Understanding the user group is crucial as modern and costly toilets end up being rejected than being used. Thus the paper tries to address the problems and suggests design strategies to achieve a feasible design solution for a sustainable public toilet that supports and empowers communal hygiene. The contribution of this paper is not only to promote a design solution but how this infrastructure can integrate with the surrounding urban context. A modular prototype is proposed which is adaptable, feasible, cost-effective, easy to erect, and can be plugged into any corner of the city. Rethinking public toilets as an adaptable prototype is not only about providing proper sanitation but also encouraging people about hygiene education, awareness, and innovation. The design is conceptualized as a prefabricated self-sustainable modular unit that can be altered, increased, or decreased as per the necessity of the surrounding area. 

The Centriole-Centrosome Complex is Affected by Microgravity During Cell Division and in Cilia of Sea Urchin Embryos: Results from Space Flight Experiments

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1132-1133
Author(s):  
Heide Schatten ◽  
Amitabha Chakrabarti ◽  
Meghan Taylor ◽  
Michael Crosser ◽  
Kirk Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Cell Division ◽  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Space Flight ◽  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Culture Conditions ◽  
Model System ◽  
Research Facility ◽  
Cilia Formation ◽  
Pluteus Stage

Sea urchins have been used for over a century as a remarkable animal model system in which to study cell, molecular, and developmental biology. The studies presented here have used sea urchin eggs and embryos for pioneering experiments to explore the effects of microgravity on the cytoskeleton during a space flight on the space shuttle Endeavor. The culture conditions followed those described previously utilizing the Aquatic Research Facility (ARF) to fertilize and culture eggs and embryos up to the pluteus stage under controlled temperature (12°C) and fixation conditions. To achieve a final fixation with 0.5% glutaraldehyde and 4μM taxol, concentrated fixation fluid was injected at preselected time points to preserve microtubules, centrioles, centrosomes, microfilaments, mitochondria, and cell membranes.The analysis of the results revealed that the centriole-centrosome complex during cell division and cilia formation showed alterations in samples that had been exposed to microgravity while control cells cultured in a centrifuge at lg in space and those cultured on ground appeared normal.

scholarly journals Prioriority actions maps of municipal public services with geospace application

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. e44426
Author(s):  
Bruno Fernandes Scaramelli ◽  
Edivando Vitor Couto ◽  
Paulo Agenor Alves Bueno ◽  
Débora Cristina de Souza ◽  
Luciane Maria Vieira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Services ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
Outlier Analysis ◽  
Census Tracts ◽  
The Public ◽  
General Network ◽  
Absence Rate

Public services management is a fundamental role to public institutions, providing society with proper resources for a better quality of life. Local characteristics should be considered during public policies planning; however, generalizations are adopted to elaborate studies, overlooking these characteristics. Our objective was to apply a geostatistical analysis into the public services of Campo Mourão, Paraná State. The number of residents per census tracts lacking in water supply, sewage collection, waste collection, street lighting, electricity, and paving was found based on 2010 Census data. The spatial distribution of these data with the software ArcGIS 9.3 enabled the examination of these characteristics via the Cluster and Outlier method, through the Anselin Local Moran's I spatial analysis module, that identified hotspots and coldspots. As a result, it was found that Campo Mourão is satisfactorily supplied with electricity distribution services and waste collection with only 0.5% of absence in the census tracts. The sewage collection by the general network was the most absent service with 37% absence rate. Parque Industrial I and Jardim Isabel neighborhoods stood out as the most devoid of public services. The Cluster and Outlier Analysis is a subsidy tool for policy-making, which can increase efficiency when providing these services.

Space Shuttle/Orbiter EVA and EVA Provisions

1980 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 200-204
Author(s):  
Jerry R. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Space Flight ◽  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Systems Design ◽  
Critical Systems ◽  
Extravehicular Activity ◽  
Manned Space Flight ◽  
Manned Space

Extravehicular activity (EVA) has proved its usefulness and benefit in previous manned space-flight programs. The Space Shuttle Program has adopted EVA as a “built-in” means to support various basic mission objectives and to provide the ability to react positively to contingencies as they occur. The Orbiter has applied this EVA to backup critical systems design, primarily that associated with payload bay door operations. This paper outlines overall and Orbiter EVA capabilities and describes the EVA system.

Improving Municipal Solid Waste Collection System Through a Gis Based Mapping of Location Specific Waste Bins in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-371
Author(s):  
Abdullahi A. Adedotun ◽  
M.K.C. Sridhar ◽  
Akinwale O. Coker
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Significant Saving ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mapping Tool ◽  
The Government ◽  
Transportation Routes

Scope/Aim. Solid waste management in Ibadan Metropolis, the capital of Oyo State in Nigeria has been a serious concern to the government and the public for several years. The waste generated at the rate of about 0.51kg per capita per day from 11 Local Government Areas is transported to the existing four landfill sites and dumped indiscriminately. This study recorded various collection points using GPS, available collection bins, number of households using the facilities and identified the gap. Methods. The waste transportation routes used currently in respect of distance and travel time was assessed using a GIS analytical distribution and optimization mapping. Results. The results indicated that there is need for provision of 837 waste bins (5m3 capacities) to meet the demand gap. By following the optimized transportation routing, the waste management authorities can clear the waste 15 per cent more efficiently and save NGN 1.2 million (USD 3,335) on energy every year. Conclusions: The GIS analytical distribution and optimization mapping tool will help the city authorities in improving waste collection with significant saving in operational cost. It is replicable in other parts in African countries.

scholarly journals Death on Orbit: Extreme Environmental Conditions and the Deaths of American Astronauts

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig T. Mallak
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Space Flight ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Major Contributor ◽  
Space Shuttle Columbia ◽  
Death Investigation

When the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost in 2003, the investigation presented many unique challenges, including numerous findings that had never been observed by forensic pathologists. The previous two major space shuttle fatality incidents also presented unique and complex issues. The causes of these incidents are now identified and the environmental impacts on the astronauts were a major contributor to the tragedies. Even with the improvements learned from the losses of Apollo 1 (1967), the Challenger (1986), and the Columbia (2003), space flight continues to be one of the most dangerous professions and environmental factors are significant contributors to this threat. While many have now been explained, the myriad of environmental insults to the crew continues to be a source of interest for those involved in space flight. Most forensic pathologists will never be involved in a death investigation of astronauts at the edge of outer space, on a mission, or during training, yet the findings are nevertheless of interest in the field of environmental death.

scholarly journals A New Method to Make 24-Hour Urine Collection More Convenient: A Validity Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooneh Nabavizadeh ◽  
Shadi Ghadermarzi ◽  
Mohammad Fakhri
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Volunteers ◽  
Sampling Method ◽  
Urine Volume ◽  
New Method ◽  
Validity Study ◽  
Urine Collection ◽  
Protein Levels ◽  
Collection Device ◽  
Fixed Proportion ◽  
High Degree

Background and Objectives. This study proposes a novel urine collection device that can divide each urine collection into 20 parts and store and cool just one part. The aim of the current study is to compare measured biomarkers from the proposed urine collection device to those of conventional 24-hour sampling method. We also hypothesized that the new method would significantly increase patients’ adherence to the timed urine collection.Methods. Two 24-hour urine samples with the conventional method and with the new automated urine collection device that uses just one-twentieth of each void were obtained from 40 healthy volunteers. Urine parameters including volume, creatinine, and protein levels were compared between the two methods and the agreement of two measurements for each subject was reported through Bland-Altman plots.Results. Our results confirmed that for all three variables, there is a positive correlationP<0.001between the two measurements and high degree of agreement could be seen in Bland-Altman plots. Moreover, more subjects reported the new method as “more convenient” for 24-hour urine collection.Conclusions. Our results clearly indicate that a fixed proportion of each void may significantly reduce the urine volume in timed collections and this, in turn, may increase subjects’ adherence to this difficult sampling.

Wellington-Winter Revisited: The Case of Municipal Sanitation Collection

ILR Review ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda N. Edwards ◽  
Franklin R. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
Solid Waste Collection ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Unions ◽  
Residential Solid Waste ◽  
Public Collection

This study examines the hypothesis advanced by Wellington and Winter that public sector unions have greater power than private sector unions to raise wages. To test this hypothesis the authors use a unique body of 1974 data on several aspects of residential solid waste collection in 175 cities, 95 with public collection systems and 80 with private systems. In both groups of cities some work forces are unionized and some are not. The authors' analysis shows that unionization raises the wages of sanitation workers in the public sector by considerably more than it raises the wages of such workers in the private sector, thus providing strong support for the Wellington-Winter thesis.

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